Vice President JD Vance will make several stops in metro Atlanta on Thursday to promote President Donald Trump’s signature tax-and-spending law and energize Republican voters ahead of tough midterm elections in one of the nation’s top political battlegrounds.
He’s set to address Republican National Committee members in Atlanta before headlining an afternoon event at a manufacturing plant in Peachtree City.
The trip comes at a volatile moment in Georgia politics, as battle lines are already forming in the GOP contest to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, who staunchly opposed Trump’s signature legislation. Now both parties are racing to define it.
Democrats have vowed to make steep rollbacks to Medicaid and other public health programs central to next year’s midterm elections. They are highlighting its impact on rural hospitals, including one in rural Claxton that warned this week it could close without changes to the law. Ossoff said Vance was on a “damage control mission.” .
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
“The vice president is here because Georgians understand that defunding hospitals and nursing homes to cut taxes for the wealthiest people is bad for Georgia,” Ossoff said at an event in Columbus on Wednesday. “The vice president’s here to defend that policy. I don’t think he’ll succeed.”
Republicans say it fulfills Trump’s campaign promises: eliminating income taxes on tips, gutting clean energy incentives, extending roughly $3.8 trillion in tax cuts and increasing public safety spending. And Vance, positioning himself for a potential 2028 bid, has emerged as its most visible champion.
Early polls show the law faces a skeptical audience. A July survey by Public Policy Polling found 52% of Georgia voters said they would be less likely to support it after hearing Democratic messaging about its cuts. The Senate GOP is pouring $5 million into an ad blitz to boost the measure — and slam Ossoff for voting against it.
The trip marks Vance’s second to Georgia since he and Trump carried the state in November. It’s the first trip to Fayette County, about 25 miles south of Atlanta, by a sitting vice president since Dan Quayle visited a local high school in 1992.
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